One bumper crop does not an accomplished goal make, but Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall said this year’s harvest goes a long way toward it.
The growth plan he announced last fall calls for crop production to increase by 10 million tonnes by 2020.
Last year, production was 26.4 million tonnes and this year’s estimates are for more than 30 million tonnes.
“The crop production goals are going to be facilitated not by one great year,” he told reporters after updating the Regina Chamber of Commerce on the plan’s progress.
“That’s helpful, but they’re going to be facilitated by us continuing to lead in terms of crop variety development that focused on quality and yield.”
Wall said the province has invested more money in crop development, particularly wheat, and has established the Global Institute for Food Security.
He said potash and oil receive a lot of publicity, and rightly so, but agriculture deserves credit for putting Saskatchewan on the world stage.
“Agriculture is a rock star for this economy,” he said.
Wall, who just returned from a trade mission to Southeast Asia, said 30 percent of all Canadian exports to the countries that belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations come from Saskatchewan.
In Japan, officials met with two beer companies that use PolarStar barley, developed at the Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon and malted at Prairie Malt in Biggar.
Wall said it’s important to invest in more research to increase the yield of this variety so that more farmers will grow it, Wall said.
Another growth plan goal called for an increase in exports of food and agricultural products from $10 billion in 2011 to $15 billion by 2020. The total hit $11.2 billion in 2012.
Wall also announced the creation of a new manufacturing centre of excellence that will help the province’s farm equipment manufacturers, among others, continue developing the sector.
Derek Lothian, executive director of the Saskatchewan Manufacturing Council, said more than half of the council members report a labour shortage. The centre of excellence will focus on productivity improvement, labour market development and innovation, he added.
Last year was the best ever for the sector with sales of $14.1 billion.
Lothian said that in addition to its well-known farm equipment, the province’s manufacturers also make products for the agri-food, defence and high-tech industries.
“We are really making some cool things in Saskatchewan, and we hope this initiative will showcase what the opportunities are,” he said.
